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Venom Shotgun/ME3SP
|Text=Edit this tab}} Description The Venom shotgun was developed by the salarian Special Tasks Group to meet the unpredictable needs of those stationed in hostile areas. The double barrel fires ammunition that detonates on impact, while a third barrel below can be charged to fire a round of microgrenades. Given the covert nature of most STG assignments, the Venom was designed to force an exit strategy and was issued to teams whose primary objective was to extract compromised undercover operatives. The shotgun is now issued to frontline soldiers in the war against the Reapers. Acquisition Available after downloading the Mass Effect 3: Groundside Resistance Pack.http://blog.bioware.com/2012/10/16/groundside-resistance-weapon-pack/ Player Notes *Treat the Venom like a grenade launcher. It has two firing modes: **Uncharged - fires one explosive round on a shallow trajectory that detonates on impact. **Charged - fires a high damage explosive round on a shallow trajectory that separates into five bomblets on impact, which in turn detonate after a very short delay. Squadmates will only fire uncharged shots when armed with this weapon, making it a poor choice for them overall. *The Venom's charged shots deal viciously high damage even on Insanity difficulty with the proper loadout. At level X, with the Shotgun High Caliber Barrel mod equipped and the right ammo power active, a single charged shot from the Venom that hits its mark can instantly kill tough enemies like Brutes and Phantoms, and three to four charged shots can easily take down Atlases, Geth Primes, Adjutants, Harvesters and Banshees. It can be helpful to think of the Venom as similar to the Heavy Weapons from Mass Effect 2 in that it shouldn't be used as a general combat weapon to deal with common enemies but saved for bursting down durable, dangerous targets rapidly. *The Venom's main disadvantage is its weight. Even after upgrading the Venom to level X, it remains considerably heavier than many other shotguns such as the M-11 Wraith. You may not want to have other weapons equipped to enjoy the bonus to power recharge speed. *With a weight capacity of fifty combined with a level 5 Shotgun Ultralight Materials mod, a level X Venom can be carried with no penalty to cooldown times. A second weapon can usually still be carried with little or no penalty as long as it is a light pistol or SMG also with ultralight mods. Power heavy classes can thus use the Venom as a primary weapon if they are able to rely more on their powers and squadmates for dealing with common enemies and use charged Venom shots to take out more difficult foes. *The Venom's other big disadvantage is a lack of accuracy. While some shots will fly almost perfectly towards the crosshair, others will deviate quite a bit. Large, slow targets such as Atlases and Brutes can still be easily hit at long range, but for targets with small or narrow profiles such as Banshees and Phantoms, it's better to be close to the target and also to aim at the feet to avoid wasting ammunition. *Charged shots can be used to bombard groups of targets at range, or attempt trick shots exploiting walls and ceilings to rain bomblets against enemies that took cover. You can also flush targets out of cover by firing it to the side of where they're hiding, and letting the spread do the work. *Because the Venom Shotgun fires explosive-based rounds, ammo powers and weapon mods that enhance penetration serve no purpose. The Venom Shotgun is not capable of penetrating armor, even with an armor penetrating mod, such as the Shotgun Shredder Mod, Shotgun High-Velocity Barrel, or Armor-Piercing Ammo. *Explosive shots can blow enemy bodies into scraps to prevent Cannibals from consuming them and restoring their armor. This effect even works on Kai Leng, though his body will still be intact for his final cutscene. *The Venom Shotgun does not benefit from bonus headshot damage. Due to the explosive nature of the projectiles, headshots are not possible with this weapon. There is no benefit gained from or for using powers with this shotgun that increase headshot damage. References